on photos and Britain food
As I catch up on web reading, you’ll see my Recently Discovered sidebar links are alive and kicking again!
I’m still going through the 1500+ photos Jeremy and I took on the trip. We both had digital cameras with giant media cards and that’s just dangerous. I promise when I’m finished (hopefully by Monday) I will post the link to a whole gallery smorgasbord of them. Since I’m organizing the photos by day, when I post the photos, I will also post an itinerary of the trip with links matching day to gallery. Make sense? Filtering through all of these, I’m reminded and pleased at what an arts and history-centric trip we had in England, versus one comprised of say, shopping or lounging about.
Because there is so much to write about from our trip, I will make a point of typing up a particular observation every day for a little while:
The food was amazing! Open air markets abounded in most villages and cities we visited. The produce all looked, smelled and tasted near-perfect and the prices were about a one-half to one-third what they are in the States. What’s up with that? While salivating over the displays of avocado, garlic, fresh figs, and olives at Portobello Market, I had fantasies of living there in Notting Hill in one of those cute, blue-doored houses and gliding over each Saturday to select my fresh cooking foods for the coming week. I would be the ultimate domestic chef!
We felt ripped off thinking of the quality and cost of food back home compared to what we saw and ate in England. And price for price, most restaurant and take-out food was vastly better than food in America. Even the pre-made sandwiches found at the corner take-out chain Pret A Manger were unpredictably wholesome (who ever bought a delicious pre-made prawn and cucumber sandwich from 7-11?).
We ate at some memorable resturants which I will write up later. I am nursing a horrible little cold at the moment and my head is too stuffed to carry on right now.
Mia said,
September 25, 2003 @ 2:43 pm
The “cheaper” prices in England are the result of a little thing called the exchange rate.
And there are plenty of Pret A Mangers in the States.
Emily said,
September 25, 2003 @ 2:50 pm
Obviously, I know about the exchange rate, and I counted that. And according to Pret’s website, there are only about ten or so in the States and they’re all in New York City.
Roger Darlington said,
September 26, 2003 @ 1:08 pm
It’s good to have an outsider’s perspective on the UK and I’m so pleased that you had such a great time. It was real fun to meet you and Jeremy in London - the power of blogging, eh?
Pamela said,
September 26, 2003 @ 5:55 pm
Em,
I totally agree about the food in Europe, and it was a happy surprise for me when I’ve been there. Only exception is the ice cream. See Mia, back there they don’t spend the atrocious amounts on marketing and processing that we feel compelled to do here. Although they are becoming more and more Americanized as time goes on.
And as I know you are acutely aware Emily, but maybe other’s aren’t, their system of farming is far different from ours. It mainly boils down to local markets–which Europeans are big on. Due to the price of petrol, and the natural inclination of Europeans to keep things on a more local level, they don’t pay to ship a peach from Florida to California–when the peach can be grown there.
It’s all very complex, but I know how surprised my mother was when she moved from Germany here. She has always maintained that, while America is the bomb in terms of selection, Europe has better quality foods, hands down. I do know that she said meat was always more expensive there.
Anyway, I would LOVE the prawn and cucumber sandwich, where are those Pret A Mangers?